Climate change has become a highly polarized issue in the United States. That’s a big problem if we’re trying to make the kind of large-scale progress that scientists say is needed in order to avoid the worst impacts over the next century. We needed a way to break through the noise and connect with real people who could help shift the climate narrative from partisan warfare to pragmatic solutions.
Our work
Shifting the Narrative.
Potential Energy’s analysis found that moderate, suburban moms were highly persuadable on climate change – and highly influential in their communities – but that the issue’s complexity, politicization and vague timescale led them to think of it as a lesser priority. As always, we started by seeking to understand our audience and their priorities, and we found three big themes in how suburban moms thought about climate change:
- It feels complicated and unsolvable: Most of the stories that do break through are all doom and gloom, with no realistic opportunity to make a difference.
- The timeline seems long – and moms have a lot of priorities right now: Climate change is usually discussed as some far off problem that will vaguely affect future generations, while families are balancing work, school, health care, and a dozen other fire drills every day.
- The messengers are too political: Many parents largely hear about climate change in the context of an election or on cable news, moving it from a universal problem to a political one.
Insights:
To connect with moms, we needed a messenger they trusted and a message that made sense. While moderate suburban women were skeptical of many of the usual voices, they were receptive to hearing from other moms. Our message testing and analytics also identified a few key narratives that connected: the impact of extreme weather on families today and the potential for climate change to affect the lives of their children in the future. When presented in a factual, human way — without the usual progressive political markers — moms responded positively and were ready to make climate change a priority for themselves and their families. This approach highlights how the right climate language can make the issue feel more immediate and actionable.
Program:
Out of these insights came Science Moms, a nonpartisan group of accomplished climate scientists who are also mothers, to educate and empower fellow mothers to correct the record on climate and advocate for a better, cleaner future. The effort helped strengthen climate advocacy by making the issue more personal and relatable. The program has included a broad array of strategies:
Educational advertising.
Starting in 2019, we have run a series of surround-sound campaigns featuring mothers with scientific credentials speaking about climate change in relation to their children and future generations.
Elevating new spokespeople in key forums.
The women in Science Moms are accomplished scholars in their fields, but many hadn’t engaged with the public or the press on a high level. Through Science Moms, we have worked to position them as go-to experts for local and national media covering climate change, including appearances on programs like ABC News, WNCT, People, and Christianity Today, where climate isn’t always a common topic.
Building the profiles of climate experts across platforms.
We can be most effective if we meet people where they are – and we identified social media as a key channel to engage with suburban moms. Potential Energy worked with the Science Moms to build up their profiles on the major social platforms and get them into the conversation that their audiences were already having.
Results:
Science Moms has been a consistent success story. We have sustained support for climate action among 5 million moderate, suburban women, and motivated hundreds of thousands of suburban women to be strong climate advocates. Since its inception, we have grown the baseline segment of strong supporters for climate action among moderate suburban women by 25%, creating roughly 500,000 new supporters of climate action. This success demonstrates how effective climate change advocacy can grow when messaging connects with everyday concerns.
Creative.
By the time
Narrated by a scientist, Later Is Too Late answers one of moms’ most frequent questions: “Will my kids be affected by climate change?” This film lays out the timeline for what’s at stake by using the personal milestones of a child’s life, and gives us a rallying cry to act now.
Creative.
For our daughters
For Our Daughters is centered around Dr. Melissa Burt and Dr. Emily Fischer, two atmospheric scientists in Colorado who both have young daughters. They both see their responsibility to tackle climate change as central to their role as parents.
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We can solve this together.
Potential Energy collaborates with partners across the climate sector and marketing industry to reach the most people with the most effective climate narratives.
